To improve diagnosis, SMCA has implemented the Triage®
CardioProfilER® Panel, manufactured by Biosite® Incorporated.
The portable device is small enough to be used near the
patient, ensuring that diagnostic information is readily
accessible. By combining four markers of cardiovascular disease
in one test panel, the 15-to-20 minute diagnostic test is
intended to provide physicians with a fast and convenient means
of assessing chest pain patients for a variety of conditions in
order to potentially enable earlier therapeutic intervention or
disease rule-out.

"Time is muscle. The longer we wait to treat the
patient, the more the heart muscle is damaged and every minute
can make a significant difference in the patient's life," said
Sam Roberts, M.D., Chief of Staff and Emergency Department
Medial Director, Seton Medical Center Austin. "Therefore,
earlier diagnosis can play a critical role in helping us
streamline the process of evaluating our chest pain patients,
thus enabling faster and more effective treatment for our
patients, which leads to better and more timely patient
care."

An estimated six million Americans visit hospital
emergency rooms each year with chest pain, but all patients
with chest pain are not having heart attacks. Conversely, some
patients experience heart attacks without having the typical
clinical presentation of chest pain. The addition of cardiac
marker testing can play a critical role in helping physicians
diagnose heart attacks, allowing appropriate treatment to be
started in a timely manner and improving outcomes for
patients.

Since implementing this new technology at SMCA in
December of 2007, the staff run an average of 200 plus tests a
week.

The CardioProfiler will soon be available in the
emergency departments at the University Medical Center at
Brackenridge, Seton Medical Center Williamson and Seton
Northwest.

Seton is proud to have four hospitals – the only hospitals in Central Texas - that have earned the Magnet designation, the highest award for nursing excellence given by the American Nurses Association.